


Too Quiet

by Coolestjoy30



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Bucket List, Cisco Ramon Needs A Hug, Cisco Ramon Whump, Doctor Caitlin Snow, Gen, Hurt Cisco Ramon, Hurt/Comfort, Psychological Trauma, Silence, Vomiting, Worried Barry Allen, anechoic chamber
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 23:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29741175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coolestjoy30/pseuds/Coolestjoy30
Summary: Cisco is captured and placed in an anechoic chamber; the quietest place on Earth, a chamber known to drive people into insanity after minutes because of the silence.  The physiological trauma one experiences is horrendous, and the longest someone has been in it was 45 minutes.Cisco is in it for two hours.Will Cisco stay strong and endure the silence, or will it be too much for him to handle?The summary isn't the best, the story is better :)
Relationships: Barry Allen & Cisco Ramon
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Too Quiet

Cisco woke up with a start, feeling sore all over. He vaguely remembers getting hit on the head as he walked home to his apartment, but anything after that was blank. He must’ve been knocked unconscious, which was never a good sign. 

He looked around the room that he was in, and admired the ledges that jutted out from every side of the room, some of the ledges going vertical, others horizontal. Cisco looked up, and saw the same ledges coming from the ceiling as well, like strange shaped teeth. 

A small lightbulb was hanging from the ceiling, and Cisco sighed with relief. At least he could see. 

Cisco glanced down at his feet, which were bonded by rope, and noticed that he was sitting on a metal grating, the ledges pointing upwards from underneath the small covering. 

Where in the world was he?

“Hello?” Cisco called, but the noise was loud in his ears, and he quieted down, suddenly worried as to why he was talking so loud. Maybe he hit his head worse than he thought. 

Cisco willed himself to stay calm and composed, so that he would save his energy for when Barry and the others came to save him.

But as his breath slowed, he soon realized that he could hear everything. His heart beat, hammering inside of his chest; the rope vibrating against his feet whenever he moved. He could hear his bones grind against his other bones, his breaths quicken, the soft wheezing coming from his lungs. 

He could hear a soft buzzing, which Cisco assumed was coming from the lightbulb hanging above him. 

It was then that his scientific brain caught up to him. He was in an anechoic chamber. The quietest place on Earth, the place that drove people crazy because of the silence within minutes. The longest anyone has been in a chamber was 45 minutes, and even they were faced with insanity and hallucinations. 

The walls were made of super absorbent material, making all sounds from the outer world disappear, as well as sounds coming from inside. Not only did the silence drive people crazy, but caused horrifying symptoms, too.

No human body was used to that much silence, so it was sometimes used for torture, as the physiological effects were tremendous.  
Suddenly, the light turned off, and the quiet buzzing that Cisco had heard disappeared, leaving him to quiet. 

But it was much too quiet. 

“Don’t panic don't panic don’t panic…” Cisco said, but even that was too loud for his ears. He struggled to get up, given how his hands were tied behind his back, also, and leaned against the wall, struggling for breath. 

He could hear his shirt brush against his skin, his long hair brush against his ears, making Cisco whimper. It was all so loud.

Cisco remembered a time when he wanted to be in one of these, to see how it felt to be submerged in absolute silence. He knew that booking a session was a lot safer than being captured in one, as when it is too much, all he would have to do was ask to be let out. 

Boy, did he know better now. This was not fun at all. The silence was deafening. 

“Help!” Cisco screamed, trying to get someone's attention, “ Please let me out, it hurts!”

No one responded, and Cisco fell to the ground once again, fear gripping his whole body. 

Cisco struggled to keep his breath even, he knew that panicking wouldn’t help. As soon as he became quiet once again, his body wouldn’t stay quiet. He could hear a rushing throughout his body, and concluded that it was his blood, flowing through his veins. 

If he could hear that, it was way too quiet, and Cisco could feel himself slowly fall into madness. He had to get out of here. 

He could hear his stomach gurgling, and vaguely remembered that he was supposed to meet Kamilla for lunch. That probably wasn’t happening. 

But he wasn’t hungry, so did that mean it was so quiet that he could hear his stomach acid? 

Nononononono he had to get out of here. 

He fought against the rope, but the noise from the movement was too much to handle, so Cisco stopped, breathing hard. 

He was panicking. 

Cisco could hear something that resembled a vibrating hand, driving him into further panic. Was it Thawne, coming to stab his hand through his chest? No no please no!

He soon could hear a rustling sound, like leaves on a windy day, and pressed his hands to his ears, willing the noise to go away. 

Were there leaves in the room? Was the wind blowing through? No, that was impossible...he was hallucinating. Oh no, he was going crazy!

“Please, I’ll do anything you want, just let me out!” Cisco screamed, “Please!” 

Suddenly, he pressed against the cold metal floor, puking up whatever food was left in his stomach. He began crying, the sound, the quiet?, much too loud for him to handle. He closed his eyes, but knew that that would never help him.

He couldn’t breath. He couldn’t breath, he was going to die in this silence…

He had no clue how much time had passed, but every minute was agonizing, pushing him to his limit. His mind felt as if it were on fire, his body constantly shook, traumatized by the effects of pure silence. 

He could hear everything. 

A soft humming entered the room once again, and Cisco opened his eyes to see that the light turned on once again. When the noise filled the room, he found that he couldn't hear his bodily sounds as much, but he still wanted out.

A door opened wide, and Barry ran through, dressed head to toe in red.

“Cisco!” He said, and Cisco flinched. Barry appeared to see his destress, and slowly walked forward. 

With the door open, Cisco could hear more sounds, normal sounds, and breathed a small sigh of relief. Barry kneeled beside Cisco, and began to undo the ropes.

“Are you okay?” He asked, quietly, and Cisco shook his head no. Barry gave him a concerned glance, and picked him up bridal style, running him to Star Labs. 

Cisco leaned against Barry, clinging to his neck, and didn’t let go even when they arrived in the med bay.

“Cisco, you’re safe. You can let go now. “ Barry said, but Cisco nestled himself deeper into Barry’s chest. 

“Too loud.” He said, and Caitlin rushed over to him, her hand gently squeezing his arm. 

Although Cisco couldn’t hear his heart beat, everything was still so loud. He was very aware of everyone’s footfalls, the constant beeping and whirring of the electronics, and Barry’s vitals monitor from one of the computers, telling the team that Barry wasn’t injured. At other times Cisco would find these noises comforting, but after being submerged in absolute silence, it was all too much. 

“What are the side effects of being in an anechoic chamber for too long, Caitlin?” Barry asked, keeping his voice down. Caitlin pursed her lips together in worry.

“Nausea, panic attacks, claustrophobia, and hallucinations; but they all go away when they’re out of the chamber.” She responded, brushing Cisco's hair away from his face. Cisco let out a small whimper, and Caitlin stopped.

“He shouldn’t be like this.”

“But, he was in there for two hours.” Barry said, “What if some of the effects are permanent? The most someone has been in there was-”

“45 minutes. I know, Barry. I’m going to need to give Cisco a thorough check-up.” Caitlin finished, and went to the med bay as soon as she could to prepare. She slipped off her high heels, being careful as to how loud she was walking.

Barry looked down to where Cisco still clung to his body like a lifeline, sitting down, as Cisco was beginning to get harder to carry. 

“Buddy, you have to let go, okay? We need to find out what’s wrong with you.” He said gently, but Cisco shook his head. 

“Loud.”

Cisco heard more footsteps enter the Cortex, and his stomach did a backflip. 

“Cisco! Are you okay?” Iris asked, quite loudly, and Cisco flinched.

“Iris, be a bit quieter, okay? We don’t know what’s wrong with him.” Cisco felt Barry vibrate as he spoke, and even that was too much for his body to handle at this point. 

“Barry…” Cisco whispered, fear and sickness clear in his tone, and proceeded to puke on Barry.

“Eww, uhh, Caitlin! Cisco just puked on me!” Barry exclaimed, disgust and worry evident in his tone, and Iris grabbed a couple of towels from across the room. 

Cisco began to sob, and Barry tried to ignore the vomit on his chest, on his suit, to comfort him.

“Hey, it’s okay, I know you’re not feeling well, don’t worry about it. Do you need to puke again?”

Cisco barely nodded, and Iris also grabbed a trash can, setting it next to Barry. 

Cisco unwrapped his arms from around Barry's chest and grabbed the bucket, expelling what felt like the rest of his stomach fluid into it. 

After dry-heaving a couple of times, he set the bucket down, weak, and Barry rubbed Cisco's back comfortingly. 

“Are you ready to see Caitlin?” He asked, and Cisco slowly got off of Barry. 

“Yea.” he responded, his voice cracking, and Iris wrapped Cisco’s arm around her shoulder, leading him to Caitlin. 

Cisco could tell that the smaller effects of the anechoic chamber were slowly wearing off, but he still felt as if every loud noise was amplified to him, and his stomach still felt a bit queasy. But, he was breathing a lot better than before, and he felt more calm, more sane. 

He was very curious as to who captured him, and how Team Flash found him. 

Caitlin set an IV in him, and checked his eyes, mouth, nose, and most definitely his ears. 

“You look fine, I think the trauma is more psychological than physical.” She stated, and Cisco nodded. 

Caitlin got out a small buzzer, and Cisco eyed it warily. 

“I just want to test how amplified your hearing is now, okay? Tell me when it hurts.” She said, and raised the buzzer a couple feet away from his ear.  
When she pressed it, Cisco only heard a small buzzing. As she grew closer, the louder and louder it became, until it finally started to hurt.  
Cisco flinched, and Caitlin stopped. 

“Your hearing is definitely amplified, but it's getting to be normal. It only began to hurt about half a foot away from your ear, and for most, it hurts when the buzzer is a couple of inches away.” Caitlin stated, and Cisco sighed in relief. 

“So, time is slowly healing me?”

Caitlin smiled. “Yes, you seem to be doing a lot better than even ten minutes ago, too."

“I feel better.” That was the truth. His stomach felt normal, and when he looked behind him at Barry and Iris, he saw that they were going about life normally, walking around, which Cisco couldn’t hear anymore, and fussing over the Flash suit that had vomit on it. 

Oh, snap. 

“I puked on our suit!” Cisco explained, and Barry looked up. 

“Don’t worry about it, really, it’s nearly all cleaned up. We just used water and vinegar.” 

“Water and vinegar?” Cisco cried, standing up. Caitlin went to stop him, but Cisco dodged her reach and approached Barry. 

“You used water and vinegar? Barry!!!!” Cisco screamed, and Barry gave a small smile. 

“Water and vinegar is going to discolor the suit! Look, it’s turning pink!” 

Barry looked down in concern, his eyes widening at the sight. “It is pink.”

Cisco huffed in annoyance, taking the suit from Barry’s hands. “You need to use the special solution I made to clean it. Now how am I going to fix this?”

Barry gave a laugh, “I see that you’re feeling better.” 

“Well, how am I supposed to take care of our suit if I’m not feeling well? Clearly you and Iris can’t do it!”

Caitlin smiled. “He’s going to be fine.”

\------------------------------------------------------

Cisco later found out that an unnamed man had captured him, and sent Team Flash a live video feed of Cisco in the anechoic chamber, after one hour and 30 minutes. It took them a half and hour to locate the room and find Cisco. 

So, essentially, Cisco had broken the record for the longest time spent in the chamber, but he didn’t feel like flaunting it. The memory was much too vivid, and he struggled to even tell anyone what it was like. 

It was just too horrific, and Cisco would never, ever do it again.

Cisco hated the silence, and found himself always playing music when no one else was around, just to have some noise. 

He always slept with music going, too. It was the only way he could calm himself down in the darkness. 

As much as Cisco had wished that it never happened, he had to live with that traumatic experience.

At least he never had nightmares about it, and for that Cisco was grateful. 

He was constantly worried about the possibility of being put in it again, too, because the unnamed man was never caught. He was still out there, but everyone on Team Flash promised that they would protect him. 

It made his heart be a little less afraid. 

\------------------------------------------------------

Days after the incident, Cisco went into his lab to work on some smaller projects that he was working on. As he booted up his computer, he saw a file labeled BUCKET LIST. Cisco, knowing he had made that a long time ago, opened it, and looked at his list with curiosity. 

The first item that popped up was to go into an anechoic chamber. Cisco bit his lip, remembering it oh so clearly. He went to check it off, saying that he did do it, when he saw that someone already had. 

What, what? 

Cisco looked at the next item on his list, and saw that it was drive in an expensive car. 

Worry rooted in his stomach, but Cisco tried to drive it away.

It was just a coincidence that the first item on his bucket list was completed, right? That man wasn’t going to make him do the next one...was he? Sur, he would love to do the next one, but Cisco didn’t like how this man changed his dreams into nightmares. 

Maybe he would be strapped to the seat in the expensive car, with the brakes not working, and crash? Or, maybe be trapped in it as it explodes?

Cisco shook the bad thoughts away, closing the file. It was definitely a coincidence. Nothing more, nothing less. 

No one would ever hack into his computer and use Cisco’s bucket list to traumatize him.

Or would they?

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm no scientist, so I apologize for any inaccuracies in the sciences or medical facts.  
> I'd love to hear your comments, I love them all!


End file.
